emerge. evolve. enjoy

Monthly Archives: December 2012

While driving through Pie Town, NM, The Good Pie Cafe beckons travelers to rest and recharge with baked delicacies that pay tribute to how the town got its name.

The only thing that happens in Pie Town, Good Pie Cafe employee Michele Bingham claimed, is the Pie Festival each September. The Good Pie Cafe sells at least 50 whole pies at the festival each year.

Michael Rawl opened the restaurant 12 years ago with his wife Peggy. Three years later he created a pie specific to New Mexico with a little bit of spice. The New Mexican Apple Pie, complete with pine nuts and green chiles attracts all types and has even been mentioned in Smithsonian Magazine in an article about Pie Town.

Michele Bingham, who has been serving pies at The Good Pie Cafe for eight years, grabs a pie from the rack on Dec. 18.

Michael Rawl, co-owner of The Good Pie Cafe, holds up a Pie Town bumper sticker he created and sells in his restaurant on Dec. 18. Pie Town, NM is nestled at the junction of Highway 603 and Interstate 60.

I arrived in Phoenix, AZ for the Holidays and found myself in an entirely different environment than the one I have been living in at Western Washington University. Ferns are replaced by spiny cacti, the dark soil is replaced by sandy, red hues. One thing that remains the same is evening light.

As I drove by the park by my house I noticed the sun shedding low beams across the playground and stopped to snap a few shots.

Avery waits on the swings for a boy to meet her at Stetson Hills Park on Dec. 17. “Turns out he’s not coming,” she said before she walked back home.

While humans evolved to have hair for various reasons–warmth, emphasizing pheromones, protection from the elements–today many feel the need to remove it. That’s why places like the European Wax Center exist. People peel the hairs out of their skin with wax to get that smooth finish.

I followed Kathy Darrow, my mom, into get her eyebrows waxed the other day.

Cassandra Riley waxes Kathy Darrow’s eyebrows on Dec. 16 at the European Wax Center on Happy Valley Road in Phoenix, AZ. The business has 407 locations around the world.

Cassandra Riley waxes Kathy Darrow’s eyebrows on Dec. 16 at the European Wax Center on Happy Valley Road in Phoenix, AZ. The business has 407 locations around the world.

Cassandra Riley waxes Kathy Darrow’s eyebrows on Dec. 16 at the European Wax Center on Happy Valley Road in Phoenix, AZ. The business has 407 locations around the world.